Knowledge is power
by OneWhoCharms
Summary: time is not a line or a fabric, but the product of lives intertwined. We all walk this earth connect by invisible strings of fate, destiny. And in the world of Heroes and Villians only one has the power to see those strings. The message is the sole key to saving New York from desater and if Peter Petrelli has any hope of saving the world he must seek out the one girl who knows
1. Genisis

Anna Coleman sat cross legged on the end of the sofa in the 'recreation room', she was writing (well more like scribbling with the pace of her penmanship) the newest page. Anna had gotten mid sentence when a worn paperback was dropped on her notepad

"H.P. Lovecraft's the mountains of madness" she read the title "are you trying to tell me something ?" she asked jokingly

her friend Marcus sat down beside her his same blank expression. He wouldn't reply to her joke, or ask what she was doing, he never said anything Anna was OK with that. She laughed all the same.

"you are so sweet" she grinned hugging his shoulder with one arm

"Anna, I see your writing something" said one of the nurses walking towards them, Anna quickly tore the page and stuffed it out of sight

"nope, just doodling" Anna lied holding up the lazy flower scribble she kept handy

the nurse nodded absently having not gotten what she was looking for "the medication cart will be coming along shortly, once you've taken yours you could go to your room and take a nap" she suggested in her sickeningly fake sweet tone

"yeah sure" the young girl mumbled

once the nurse was out of sight Anna turned to Marcus, he made no signs f listening but Anna knew he was paying attention. Anna had seen him when he was quick as a whip and even though he didn't talk anymore Anna knew how smart he was, Anna didn't judge him and that's why Marcus liked her.

"I won't have to worry about them noising around anymore soon" she whispered to him, she ran a hand along the side of his face "I wish you could come with me when I go, but it'll get dangerous and I don't want you to get hurt"

"Anna!" the nurse called from the med cart on the other side of the room

Anna rolled her eyes at her friend and walked over, took her pills and walked herself down the hallways of the physic ward of the NEW York city hospital, most times the 15 year old felt like the youngest person there. Marcus was about twenty and he was her only friend.

Once Anna was in her room she walked into the bathroom and took a sip of water from the tap, as she wiped her mouth Anna looked at her reflection in the mirror, she was tall for her age but not amazonian, her hair was a dark reddish brown , her eyes were a light green.

Anna took a few more steps and collapsed on the covers of her bed. Not bothering to pull a blanket over herself Anna curled up on the mattress and stared at the array of sticky notes and journal pages she had taped to the walls of her room.

The young girl positioned herself so she stared out the window, as the meds took effect her eyes started to close and in her minds eye she envisioned Peter Petrelli flying through the air on the other side of the barred glass. The way he flew in his dreams, the way she knew he tried to convince his brother. She thought about all the specials out there. She thought about the map on the other side of her, the cities of Odessa, Las Vegas and New York were pinpointed with stickers.

As she gazed at the eclipsing sun Anna smiled to herself "it's starting" she whispered before falling asleep.


	2. Don't look back

Peter had been in the hospital for what felt like hours, when he'd first woken Nathan had told him the story of how he'd tried to kill himself by jumping off the roof. Peter hadn't believed him at first but then his mother ha come in and told him the real story behind their father death. Peter had tried to let himself drift back off to sleep after that but he found himsel awoken by the sound of a pen against paper. He looked over to see a teenage girl sitting in the chair opposite his bed, she had long dark hair, with a fringe pushed off to the side of her face. She looked up at him and smiled

"hi" she greeted

"hi" Peter responded a little akwardly

"I'm Anna"

"hi Anna, I'm P-"

"Peter Petrelli I know" she cut him off

"have we meet?" he asked getting a little weirded out

"no" she answered simply, her eyes drifted to the food tray on his table "I hope you don't mind but I threw your coblar away… it looked like puke"

"not to be rude, but uh, what are you doing here?" Peter asked

"I needed to talk to you, and I knew you were here today"

"what did you wanna talk about?"

"your brother is lying to you, what you think is what happened" she whispered leaning towards him

"excuse me?"

"your dreams are right, you and Nathan, you can fly" she hushed

"how do you know about my dreams?" Peter asked

"I just do, I'm not sure how but it's been happening a lot lately"

"is that how you knew I was here?"

"uh huh, it's important that we speak"

"why?" he asked

"Anna!" called a shrill voice from down the hall

Anna quickly pounced onto the floor closer to Peter and she quickly shoved a piece of paper into his hand

"visiting hours are 6-8, feel free to use the phone" she whispered

"Anna!" a bleach blonde nurse who stomped her way into Peters room shrieked, she roughly grabed Anna by the arm and galled her to her feet

"I am so sorry sir, she just thinks she can wonder off like this, it won't happen again"

"actually she wasn't-" the nurse cut Peter off

"I promise you won't see her again. Anna what do you say?" the nurse continued yanking the girls arm

"you're hurting me" Anna replied in a stone cold tone

"goodbye sir" the nurse said before haulling Anna out the room

"goodbye Peter" Anna called as she was pulled out of the room.

Peter sat in his bed for a long while after that, not sure what had just happened. He then remembered the piece of paper that she had stuffed into his hand. He unfolded it and found a list of three names

_Isaac Mendez_

_Mohinder Surresh_

_Hiro Nakamura_

Underneath that was a sketch similar to the one he had drawn earlier, beneath that was a caption

_Look familiar ?_

…

Hiro opened the door to Isaac Mendez's studio, the place was very grey and dark, not much of the cities sunlight coming through the window

"Mr Isaac?" he called out. No answer.

He stepped further through the studio, many of the paintings held the same image, a single helix symbol over and over. But leaning against a table were three paintings, they were a lighter tone then the others one featured a girl sitting in a chair next to a dark haired man lying in bed, another showed the same girl pointing out places on a map to an Indian man and the last one showed her with a sad expression leaning against a wall apparently unaware of the shadowy figure in the background, he continued to call out for Mr Isaac but his voice grew shaky when he found a gun on the floor.


	3. One giant leap

PETER PETRELLI

DOWN TOWN MANHATTAN

To say that the physic wards recreation room was depressing would have been sugar coating it, all the walls were the same bleak gray colour, the large windows were sheeted with a layer of wire and bares. the patients seemed to reflect the decors atmosphere, some shuffled around seemingly aimlessly, some just sat around mumbling to each other, some sat round mumbling to themselves.

A nurse walked up to Peter, not the blonde that he had seen that day in the hospital, this one was just a plain looking red head

"can I help you?" she asked

"yeah I'm looking for someone" he hesitated remembering that Anna hadn't left a last name "uh, she's about fourteen, fifteen. Reddish brown hair..."

the nurse raised her pen in recognition "your talking about Anna Coleman"

as good a guess as any Peter said yes,the nurse showed him to a long line of doors he felt looked more suited to be holding a prisoner then a fifteen year old. Peter walked down the hall looking in to the peep holes of each door until he spotted Anna lying belly down on her bed scribbling something down on a pad of sticky notes.

Peter opened the door and Anna sprang onto her knees

"I knew you'd be back'' she grinned

"a visit from you's kinda hard to shake" he replied closing the door behind him

"well I think it's safe to say my methods worked" she grinned.

Anna peeled the note she had been writing and walked over to a section of the concrete wall that had been plastered with similar notes

"dare I ask what those are for?" Peter joked

"it's my ability" she replied turning around to face him "started a few months ago, things just started popping into my head, I was sure about almost everything and it got harder for me to be tricked. It's like the next level up of intuition"

"they got a name for that?"

"not that I know of"

"there's something you don't know?" Peter asked jokingly

"it doesn't work like that" she murmured

"how does it work?"

"I try not to think about it to much. I've tried before and... it didn't work"

"is that what got you here?" Peter asked absent-mindedly

Anna froze at those words, her eyes dropped to the floor and her mouth gaped for a little while as if having problem forming words

"it's a long story" she finally said

Peter not wanting to touch a sore nerve went to examine a cluster of sticky notes, this particular cluster talked a lot about Peter, and not as in opinions, but eerily psychic

Peter got a job looking after Charles Devoux, he likes the view from their rooftop

Peter is having a party to celebrate his new job, his brother gave him women's shoes as a joke. I don't like Nathan very much.

Peter is always so nice. So full of hope.

There was a similar cluster with notes about Nathan

his mother thinks he's more important than his brother. She's going to be wrong.

Nathan feels guilty about what happened to Heidi

that time he caught Peter isn't the first time he flew

"I do like the view" was all Peter could say

"I'd love to see it myself" Anna replied

"I imagine it'd be nice to see anything outside this place"

"your meant for great things" she said abruptly "you've been trying to save the world, one person at a time. But you're meant for something bigger. Something important. I know it. And soon you'll realise that to"

Peter said nothing. He just held the gaze of a pair of all to knowledgable eyes.

"I only say" she continued "cause I imagine it's easy to have your self confidence undermined after spending the morning jumping off monkey bars to no affect" she giggled that last part

"seriously, it is creepy when you do that"

EDEN & MOHINDER

The room was not like the rest of Sylar's apartment, while on the other side of the door things were tidy and neat this room was chaotic in a disturbing way. The one thing that caught the two's trespasser's attention was a map similar to the one in Mohinder's apartment. But he insisted this one had more photos.

At one point a business card was pinned up over Texas was connected to a small cut out add for a ballet school in upper New York. Like the rest of the room Mohinder snapped a shot of it.

SIMONE DEVEAUX & PETER PETRELLI

APARTMENT OF CHARLES DEVEAUX

Peter stepped out of the elevator and smiled at the familiar face "Simone"

"Oh, hey. I was just coming up to check on my dad" her expression turned quizzical "Where are you going? Aren't you supposed to be on your shift?"

Peter braced himself for the goodbye "I was just filling in my replacement, and saying bye to your dad"

"What?" Simone asked

"Listen ..." he said pulling her over to the side a little

"No" she protested

"I'm quitting" he stated

"Why?" Simone asked a little heart broken

"I called the agency and told them this morning"

"But my father -"

"Caroline's gonna take really great care -" Peter assured

"But she's not you" Simone cut off

"This is not where I'm supposed to be. It's not what I'm supposed to do. I-I can't really explain it"

He sighed not quite sure what to say next, Simone caught his attention and gave him an understanding look. Peter put a head on her arm then headed to the door.

"I'll miss you" Simone called

Peter smiled back at her "It's New York. Everyone runs into each other sooner or later"

Simone nodded "Maybe it'll be sooner"

Peter continued to walk out the door but then paused and called Simone back

"actually would you mind if I asked a favour, for a friend of mine"

HIRO AND ANDO

as the obese woman sitting in between the two Japanese men, rest her head on Ando's shoulder Hiro remained oblivious to his friends Hiro laughed at a certain part of the comic book he found quite amusing.

He then turned the page to a square that took up the whole page, of a girl leaning on the edge of a balcony staring out beyond her.

…

…

Anna lay her belly on the concrete of the balcony's lining. She had imagined the view a thousand times, but what she saw now was truly beautiful.

The dark sky was dotted with stars, and the lights of Manhattan were like hundreds had been clustered and pulled towards the ground, she twisted herself round so that she was resting the lining against her arched back. She continued to gaze at the upside down skyline until she felt she couldn't let anymore blood go to her head.

It felt nice to be wearing something other than sweats and pyjamas, she was wearing a white sleeveless with green chinos and ballet flats (due to the wards no belts or shoelaces policy)

"you have the most lovely home" she said to Charles Deveaux,he was lying in his bed, making no signs of consciousness.

Peter had come by the hospital again later that day and offered her a chance to get out. He and Simone were at Nathan's campaign party, so they said she could stay and see the view from Charles' apartment as long as she wasn't a bother.

"I shudder to think what it must have cost though" she chuckled

She felt a presence in her mind, like an echo, she laughed at the joke "yeah I suppose"

Anna moved around closer to the bed

"your new nurse seems nice"

The echo sounded again

"I imagine you do miss Peter, he was here for a long time, you liked him"

_Echo_

"he's nice to me, I've only known him for a little while but he's like Marcus in that way" she sighed "only ones who realise I'm not crazy"

She felt the echo again but this time not communicating, penetrating looking through her mind

"hey!" Anna protested putting hands over her ears, like that would make a difference "if you wanna know Marcus is you ask, like a polite person, you don't go rooting around my memories" she said sternly

_An apologetic echo_

Anna arched an eyebrow

_Echo_

"you saw that huh?"

_Echo_

"it was a while ago"

_Echo_

"really?"

_Insistent echo_

Anna turned on her heels and bent down under a table, she resurfaced with a box of vinyl records. She flipped through them examining the titles

"you like the classics" she pulled one thin case from the box "Chopin nocturne C sharp minor"

She carried it over to the record player and set the needle in place. Once the sound of the tinkling piano keys hit Anna's ears, the next step was as easy as getting picked up by a current.

…

…

Caroline had stepped outside to take a phone call. It wasn't until she had hung up that she heard the piano sounding down the hall she figured the girl had gone noising around, she opened the the door a crack, just enough to look inside, she was rendered frozen by what she saw.

The girl was swaying on the spot to the tune of the music, talking and laughing at thin air.


	4. Hiros

PETER PETRELLI & ANNA COLEMAN

LOWER MANHATTAN

Peter felt a little guilty. It was Surresh saying that the whole time stopping Japanese guy with a sword thing was 'mad' that had brought Anna to mind. But it was also him saying there were no answers, Anna seemed to know more than him on that front.

As she and him walked through the hallway towards Isaac's loft Anna continued looking at Peter in a strange way.

"what?" Peter asked

"I just can't picture you with a scar" she replied simply. The thing that really made Anna's ability kinda creepy was that she could announce your darkest secrets… in such a simple tone.

She knocked on the door "mr Mendez?" she called

No answer, she reached for the handle and the door swept open, after exchanging looks the two walked into the apartment. Isaac was standing at the window with a blanket wrapped around his shoulders staring out at the rain.

"Isaac?" Peter spoke up "are you ok?"

"go away man" Isaac grumbled

"I need your help"

"You need help ... ask Simone. You already took her. What else do you want from me?"

"You painted me. A picture of me flying. Okay, it happened. It was real. I flew"

"Congratulations" Isaac muttered

"He's telling you that he believes you. That you can paint the future" Anna protested, getting annoyed at the painters stubbornness

Isaac held up a finger as he turned around and headed back to the painting table

"charming" Anna muttered

"Listen" Peter continued "whatever is happening to you, it's happening to us too" he said gesturing to him and the young girl "And I don't know why, but I'm supposed to ... see you. You're supposed to have the answer"

Isaac cleaned up his supplies

"Is that what, um, I sound like?" the pre cog scoffed "No wonder she left me. I don't have any answers"

"You're supposed to ... know where I have to go" Peter continued

"yeah" Anna added "were we have to go"

"See for yourself" Isaac waved his hand in one direction as he continued to fiddle with his supplies. Peter turned and looked at the paintings

He and Anna glanced around at the various paintings. Two Japanese men under the bloodied HOMECOMING banner. A scared looking blonde-haired girl and at the painting of locker doors flying toward a dark-haired man.

"there in some sort of order" Anna mused before stumbling along a particular painting.

A blonde girl in a red and white outfit running up amphitheatre steps while shadowy arms surrounded her.

"bingo" Anna sounded

"it's her- the cheerleader"

::

::

"now put it ri-i-ight there" Anna pointed to a spot right of the last painting Peter had hung up

"wow" he gasped, standing back to get the full picture

"when you put them in order they form a sequence, like panels in a comic book" Anna explained

"these two guys" Peter pointed to the painting featuring a bloody homecoming banner "I think we're all trying to help her" he turned to Isaac "who is she?"

"I don't know" Isaac scoffed

"but you painted these"

"I was high dog"

"save the cheerleader" Anna rolled her eyes "Hiro wacky-Naky-mura couldn't a been more specific" she turned her gaze to the two men opposite her "so what happens next?"

"I don't know!" Isaac yelled suddenly "I could have been clean. I tore myself apart. I lost Simone ... to try and find an answer. How to stop it"

Peter and Anna looked down at their feet to see the mural of New York exploding on the floor.

"All I got was this garbage" he scoffed "Some cheerleader"

Peter looks at another painting of a man in the shadows standing in front of something that's incomplete

"It's nothing" I've ruined my life for nothing"

Peter interrupted him "It's not nothing. Look, don't you get it? Everything is connected. We are all connected. If this thing that you painted, this bomb, is true, we're all dead. These are the key to saving us. Something's gonna happen to this girl. We need to know what. You have to finish this" he pointed to the incomplete painting "You - you have to finish the painting"

"Even if I wanted to, I can't. I'm out of drugs. I'm out of money to buy drugs"

"Can't you just finish it without shooting up?" the young one asked

"If you got some cash on you, man. That's another story. We can call it a commission"

Peter sighed and went back to looking at the painting. He stared intently at the painting. The white incomplete canvass morphed into an image -

"I saw it" Peter gasped

"What?" Anna questioned

Peter ran to the supply table

"I saw something in the, uh," he stuttered "in the canvas. A picture. This painting... I can finish it"

"You can't paint" Anna stated. As Isaac opened his mouth to ask how she knew that, the teen held up her hand signalling for him not to bother.

Peter took his good shirt off to a dark t-shirt underneath. He picked up a can of paint and a brush and hauled them over to the canvas.

"No. No, I can't" he continued to stutter in anticipation "But ... I drew the future after I saw you the other day. It was only stick figures, but ..."

Isaac stood up to watch Peter

"It came true" he whispered

Peter looked at the painting. He closed his eyes to concentrate. Isaac watched him while Anna edged closer to him and the canvas. Suddenly Peter's eyes smashed open to reveal they had turned a cloudy white. Both Isaac and Anna jumped back at the mutation.

The girl recovered from the shock rather quickly and placed a hand on her heart with a sigh

"I knew that was gonna happen but it still freaks me out"

"

"

Peter had been in the trance for a good few minutes now, red paint dripped off the edges of the canvas, almost as though it were really the blood spilling out of the young painted figure Peter had finished off.

"so is this what I look like when I do that?" Isaac asked

Anna looked at him "yes" she said plainly

at that moment Peter gasped a breath and stood back. His eyes now having returned to their normal brown.

"how did you do that?" Isaac asked him

"I don't know" Peter fessed

"you'll find out later" Anna added, the two men turned their heads to look at her with their eyebrows raised "we have to save her" she added determinedly

as if on Que. the phone chose that moment to ring

"ignore it" Isaac announced "it's a wrong number some Japanese guy keeps calling, leaving messages"

Anna's eyes lit up as they meet Peter's before he quickly made his way to the phone and picked up the receiver

"hello" he said

"mr Isaac? Isaac Mendez?" came an accented voice asking the name in syllables

"who is this?" Peter asked

"uh... my name is Hiro Nakamura"

"my name is Peter Petrelli" he looked behind him to see Isaac looking blankly at him and Anna grinning as if she knew what was being said

"I have a message for you"


	5. Better halves

"My name is Peter Petrelli. I have a message for you"

Peter heard a few sentences of dialog in a foreign language

"What message?" said another voice, with a similar accent but he spoke English better

"Save the cheerleader; save the world" Peter said rather unsurely

The foreign dialogue continued until the voice came back

"What cheerleader? Where?"

Peter looked back at Isaac. He covered the telephone mouthpiece

"What cheerleader? Where?" he repeated

"I don't know where she is"

Peter flicked his eyes over to Anna, when she saw he was waiting for her to answer she shrugged

"I don't know" she admitted rather embarrassedly

Peter uncovered the mouth piece "We don't know who she is. We don't know where she is. We just know that we need to save her"

"Tell him about the him from the future" Anna suggested

behind her Isaac was leaning forward to look at the painting of the dead cheerleader

Peter nodded in agreement "A Hiro Nakamura from the future, who speaks English and carries a sword stopped time to tell me that I have to save the cheerleader. That's-that's all I know"

more Japanese

Anna suddenly walked forward and grabbed the phone "Get to New York. We'll find out where the cheerleader is"

then she hung up

with a new determination in her eyes, she marched over to the latest painting

"Grab that side" she ordered of Peter as she tried to hoist the large canvas, Peter quickly speed over and helped her shift it across the floor and place it against the walls with the rest of the sequence.

"We're missing something" Anna stated pacing the floor "Some clue, some sign of where they are"

she stepped back further and her eyes darted across the canvas's "There's a panel missing" she pointed

"What was right there?" she asked turning to Isaac

"Nothing. This is everything I painted last night. But there's a piece about that size. I painted i a few weeks ago" he paused trying to think "Simone has it.

"Simone?" Peter piped up

"She took a bunch of my paintings to sell. It's with them"

"What was it of?" Anna asked

"I don't remember. I was high"

"Then we need to get it back" Peter stated grabbing out his phone and starting to dial

"Tell her a guy from the future said you needed it. I'm sure she'll love that"


	6. Nothing to hide

MERCY HEIGHTS HOSPITAL

She knocked before walking in. He was waiting inside looking out the window.

"so how's the smartest guy I know doing to day?" she asked, she patted Marcus on the back and plonked herself down on his bed

"Dr Tam came for my session today, he is such a flunky" she said pulling at the ends of her hair "I mean he is always riding me to think back and when I do he pulls out that prescription pad faster than a lightning flash"

Marcus sat back down on the bed with her not looking around

"god I sound like such a whiney teen, it's just so frustrating having to sit talking about meditation and junk when I know I'm supposed to be contributing. At least when I'm with Peter I know I'm getting closer"

She flopped back on the bed entirely and sighed "which reminds me, I'm gonna need something to wear, Angela's ordering Nathan into it right now and if Peters gonna have me in his corner the least I can do is dress for the occasion"

She turned her head to face Marcus

"don't suppose you could help me out in this area?"

Marcus got up from the bed and moved to his dresser, he opened a drawer a pulled out a blue green vintage dress

"oh Marcus" she jumped up and took the dress from him "it's beautiful, who's locker did you steal this from"

He didn't say anything but she hugged him all the same, she began to spin out of the room. She looked at him one more time before letting out a small squeal and exiting the room.

""

""

THE PETRELLI FAMILY

Nathan returned to the table with his plate, rejoining the others – Heidi, Angela, Monty and Simon. Oliver Dennison, the journalist, was sitting at one end of the table with a notepad casually placed next to his plate.

"We're usually in our pajamas around the breakfast table. You can't blame us for cleaning up for the Journal" Nathan joked

"Not when the hollandaise is made fresh" Oliver replied

Heidi moved her wheelchair to be with the boys

"You seem to be adjusting well" Dennison commented

Heidi simply rolled with the punch "To the wheelchair? You can say it, Mr. Dennison. I lost my right to be sensitive when I married Nathan. I'm not saying I didn't have my darker moments during rehabilitation. I was angry for a long time"

"At your husband?"

Everyone went quiet

"Wasn't he driving?" he asked noting this all down

"At God" Heidi countered "But we seem to have made our peace"

as if by some higher kindness, Nathan's mother was able to change the topic when she saw her younger son walk onto the terrace

"Oh, hello, Peter" she said trying to sound cheery

Her cheeriness was cut short when she saw the young girl follow him promptly

"and…" she trailed off

"Anna" the young girl answered

"What's this?" Peter asked

"It's brunch. We always have brunch" Angela said a little sharply

"Since when?"

"Will you excuse me?" Nathan said to the reporter "Peter, how good to see you" he said slinging his arm over his brothers shoulder, leading him back into the house

"Nice of you to drop by, Peter" he said loud enough for the others to hear.

The two brothers left the young girl standing rather uncomfortably in front of a family and a journalist, she ran her eyes along the spread laid out on the table

"so 'brunch' is that like a French thing?" she asked trying to make conversation.

""

""

"so you don't deny having connections to a known mobster?"

The table became very quite, Nathan's eyes flicked To Heidi's, her eyes flicked to the boys. Nathan wanted to suggest a change of topic but knew that could be construed as weakness. Suddenly Anna leaned towards his sons and whispered

"they're about to talk about boring politics, how would you two gentlemen like to give me a tour of the house?"

The two boys slid off their seats and Simon quite happily took her hand as the two lead her back into the house.

As she left the terrace she sent a look back to Nathan. Saying I got this.

"how do you know her again?"

::

::

"thank you for coming mr Dennison" Nathan smiled as the reporter left the front door.

"I'll be heading out too" Peter said

"oh you sure you can't stay?" Heidi asked, she and Peter had always been close

Peter glanced at his brother "no, I think it's time I was on my way"

"we'll don't forget your little friend" Nathan reminded he looked down the halls "where is she anyway?"

"she was with the boys" Heidi reminded

"Anna?" Peter called

"down here" came a girls voice from down the hall.

The two brothers made their way down a lengthy hall to find Anna, Simon and Monty rolling up carpets, a few were leaning against the walls like in a store.

Nathan was a little more angry than curious

"what the hell are you doing he asked?" he asked angrily

Anna looked up at him, no alarm or regret in her face

"rolling up carpets" she said

"why?"

"to keep them from getting ruined" she replied going back to work helping Nathan's sons prop a rug against the wall

"ruined by what?" Nathan asked putting a hand to his temple

Anna looked at him curiously "from the water" she answered as though it were obvious

"boys go to your room" Nathan ordered, Simon and Monty quickly obeyed, he then placed a hand on Anna's back and pushed her up the hall she turned her head back to Peter a little panic in her wide eyes.

"I was just trying to do you a favour, those rugs get wet they'll get ruined and considering how much they cost- seriously how do you get that price, 50 dollars per tassel"

Back at the front door Heidi watched the conversation bemusedly. Nathan slapped Peter on the back and forced a smile

"always good to see ya Pete" he said while pushing Anna towards him

The sentiments subtext was clear get her out of my house.

Anna placed a hand on Heidi's and smiled gratefully,

"thank you for letting me in Mrs Petrelli you keep a lovely home" she said before walking out the door, Peter raised a hand goodbye to his brother and sister-in-law before following suit.

""

""

Noah Bennett felt his phone vibrate in his pocket, the caller ID said it was Thompson, double checking his wife wasn't within ear shot he answered the call

"is this important?" Bennett asked, he didn't like having things sprung on him

"I just got a call from one of the higher ups" Thompson informed "it seems the Coleman case maybe up for re-inspection"

"it's only been four months, we're not planing on bringing her in again are we?"

"watch your tone Bennet you sound concerned" Thompson chided

"we starting off with the clean slate"

"Linderman thinks we send the Haitian to pick her up"

"I'll be accompanying him?" Noah didn't really need to ask

"one of us, one of them"

"I'll acquaint myself with what she's been doing" he affirmed before hanging up.

"who was that?" Sandra asked returning to her husbands side

""

""

Peter accompanied Anna down the hospital halls, but she paused suddenly, Peter walked back to her side

"I don't wanna go back" she said

"I know" Peter replied

"they're wrong to keep me here, I don't belong" she continued

"then why do they keep you here?" Peter asked trying to reason with her

"cause they don't understand me, what I can do and people are afraid of what they don't understand"

"are they afraid of you?" Peter asked cautiously

Anna glanced at him incredulously "you think I'm paranoid" she said

"no, no" Peter reassured "I'm just- I'm just trying to understand"

Anna's eyes sank to the floor

"Anna why are you here?"

She lifted her eyes and held his gaze before sighing.

"come with me" she said.

""

""

"do you still love me Nathan?" Heidi asked

"of course I do" Nathan replied

"I know what this chair means to us as a couple. But I need you to know that I'm going to walk again. The doctors say it's a long shot. But I can do it if I have a reason. We just need some hope, Nathan, that our life can be like it was. What Peter said about you checking out a clinic for him with a doctor. Tell me that's what happened. If you say it is ... I'll believe you. Just give me some hope"

It wasn't true, Nathan had been treating Peter with a little more firmness than fairness but he had still stepped in to keep brunch in front of the journal from getting scandalous.

The night that put Heidi in that chair was his fault, that one girl in Vegas was just something he had happened, something he had let happen. But Heidi was his wife, and she wanted hope.

"it's true" he said calmly

Heidi smiled at him. A sudden noise came from upstairs followed by Simons voice

"Dad!" he called

Nathan quickly ran up the stairs to wear his son was standing, Simon was dripping wet, as though someone had thrown a bucket on him.

"what happened?" Nathan asked crouching down to inspect his son

"the pipes broke" he whined pointing to a pipe down the hall that had been cleverly tucked out of sight in the corner of the ceiling was down burst open and gushing water across the hard wood floors and the rugs which had been placed back to their original position were now submerged and soaking.

""

""

Anna leaned against the wall as Peter followed her gaze to a currently empty hospital bed

"four months ago I woke up in that bed, doctors told me I'd been out for a few hours, I was covered" she looked down at her arms "in these weird cuts and bruises" she looked up at Peter

"thats my oldest memory. After I came to, the doctors started asking me if I knew where I was and I realised, that I didn't know who I was. I still don't"

Peter was speechless, he didn't know how he was supposed to reply to that.

"I know the difference between hot and cold, I know why it's a bad idea to stick your hand on a hot plate" she laughed a little "but I don't know what I used to like to have for breakfast, they told me my parents were dead. But I don't really know them, so I was kinda unsure how to feel about that.

They sent me to this halfway house, and I was getting along there until about a week into my stay"

"what happened?" Peter asked

"my ability kicked in. All I had to do was look at a person and suddenly I knew everything about them, and then it escalated. Stuff started coming to me from everyone, everything, you know sometimes there didn't even need to be a connection things just popped into my head out of the blue that" she snapped her fingers for emphasis "then the nightmares started"

"nightmares?" Peter asked

"around the same time my ability started up, I began having these really vivid... really intense dreams"

"what were they about?"

"death, people being killed. Sometimes I'm in their place. The one being killed" she swallowed "I don't know what they mean, but I woke up screaming and safe enough to say that freaked some people out"

"what did you do?" Peter asked out of concern

"well I thought it was an after affect of something that happened to me in the hospital so I told the people in charge of the halfway house and well" she bowed her head and let out a low chuckle "they had me in a straight jacket faster then you could say "what the hell?"

"but now, you seem a little more-"

"sane" she finished

"well.."

"a few more weeks and my ability calmed down a little I started to think about things and I realised I wasn't crazy. I wandered out of the ward one day and I found this copy of "activating evolution" lying around, I only got to read a certain amount before they dragged me away but it was enough to know that I was one of these evolved humans"

"but if you figured it out how come-"

"well, the doctors saw the notes and..."

"what are those for anyway?" Peter asked

"it's kind of my coping system, I write it all down and my head stops feeling like it's about to explode"

"but from the doctors point of view..."

"it adds to the whole Anna is crazy thing. I might not be getting out on good behaviour any time soon, but the same way I know that I need to stick with you"

"why?" Peter asked, he didn't dislike this girl but the way she said this suggested a deeper meaning

"In the same way I know Marcus is a smart guy, the same way I know Nathan is freaking out right now" she looked at Peter "the same way I know I can trust you. I know, someone did this to me. And your going to help me find them"


	7. Sessions

NATHAN PETRELLI

Nathan walked into his office, brushing past the number of his campaign volunteers that were vying for his attention.

After closing his office door Nathan at back in his chair and opened the package he was carrying and spread the contents on his desk, a series of files, lists and a few disks still in case.

Peter brings his new little playmate to his home and she just happens to predict the rugs get soaked the night the pipes brake open, he wasn't buying it. He placed the first disk into his computer into his computer and pressed the play icon as the window appeared on his screen.

The footage was in black and white but other than that the quality was good. The first thing he noticed was a that this was taking place in an office room, but the subject wasn't sitting in a chair, she was pacing frantically behind it.

"you don't understand!" she yelled

"what don't I understand?" came a calmer voice, you could just see the side of a bald head

"My reasons! You don't understand my intentions"

"what are your intentions?" the voice replied calmly

She stopped pacing

"to warn you!" she said as though it were obvious

"warn me about what?"

"you-you don't- you don't understand!" she whined

"explain it to me"

"things come to me" she said fidgeting on the spot

"cause of a room or a person, out of the blue you know" she gulped

"I don't see anything, let me be clear. I know, I-I...I feel, feel it in my gut, in my chest"

she ran hands up and down her forearm

"under my skin. You! You sit here trying to contemplate the meaning of why my fingers twitch when in a few monthsnthis whole building is gonna be nothing but rubble, and everyone here is just gonna be a pile of bleached bones including you!"

she screamed.

There was static and then suddenly the image on the screen changed to a bald man with owl glasses in a white lab coat

"subject arrived as of two weeks ago. Condition is still undiagnosed, symptoms suggest something along the lines of multiple personality disorder or paranoid schizophrenia. Given her age the latter seems unlikely but in her short time here many orderlies have reported her spouting jargon about conspiracies and apocalyptic scenarios"

he sighed and flipped through the pages of a clip boar you could now see was in his hands

"another possibility being that this condition is the result of suppressed childhood trauma as she has made claims of being taken"

::

::

NOAH BENNET

ODESSA, TEXAS

Noah slammed the door to his office

"you need to relax" Eden chided "he'll get there"

"well I need him to get there now!" Noah grunted looking back at the kit he had offered Isaac

"I can understand this must be a very stressful situation for you... let me talk to him some more, in the mean time try focussing on something else, nothing is going to come to you if stressed out like this" she said in her silky smooth tone before stepping out quietly.

Focus on something else. Yeah, because at the company you're ever short of good memories. Claire always has and always will be his number one priority, but officially he did have something else to work on.

He pulled open one drawer on his desk and placed the flash drive he'd requested into the USB port of his computer, when the contents appeared on screen he clicked on the file Thompson had sent him. The assignment tracker profile was a basic compliment of information, like a wiki dossier the standard information was at the top.

Name: Anna Louise Coleman

Parental figures: Miles MacRae (Uncle, guardian)

Residence: Newburgh

Abilities: Claircognizance

At the bottom of the profile was a list of video files set in chronological order, he clicked on the earliest one, she had been brought in after a classmate of hers had entered a comic book contest with a mini series called "from the files of Primatech", it was red hot news as many of the story lines were almost the retelling of past company missions, after the kid, a Ryan Mosser, had been evaluated for possible abilities he revealed to them that it had been Anna who wrote the plot.

Suddenly there she was, revived in pixels was smiling and naive to what she was being interviewed for. No longer being able to postpone having to relive that day he pressed play and the image came to life.

"and your enjoying school?" came the voice of a past agent Thompson

"I am, it's...uh" she looked down modestly "to be honest.." she hesitated to continue "sometimes my classes and I move at different paces" she said as though she were ashamed to admit she had academic strength

"things move too slowly for you?" Thompson asked, each question weather she knew it or not was being used to narrow down possible abilities

"oh no, I wouldn't say that. I have my weaknesses I have my strengths" she said all this with a clarity he didn't expect from a girl her age.

"I imagine so. Looking at your current schedule I notice you're in a few AP classes" he stated

the young girl giggled and rolled her eyes "they call me little mouse"

"really? do you think they're jealous, because you're so young?"

"Roger is a little" she mused glancing over to the side of the room before returning her gaze to the camera "he plans to become very important" she said in a tired tone

"did he tell you he was jealous?"

"oh no" she laughed before regaining composure "I just..." she trailed off looking for the right word

"you feel it?"

she looked back at Thompson narrowing her eyes as if trying to decide wether or not he was worthy of confiding in, she decided he was maybe because he was a better actor than he realised, maybe the idea of just having someone to confide in was to tempting to pass up.

"people" she began "tell you things all the time without talking about it, the way they look at you, the way they move... the way they're not talking about it"

"you're very intuitive"

"my uncle says I have a sixth sense" she admitted

"do you?"

"well..." she was about to confess but fell quiet

"you don't have to be afraid here Anna, this company was created to help people like you, people with abilities. With a power like yours we...you could help a lot of people"

She looked at him in curiosity

"sometimes I feel like a freak" she whispered

"don't you let yourself think that, the power you have is nothing less than a gift. And we can help you master it, help you harness it"

Her face was overcome with a look of hope

"I know things, about people, before I even meet them" she confessed

"that's the sixth sense you were referring to?" Thompson asked

"what my uncle calls it"

"your uncle, he's a doctor right?"

"he's a trauma surgeon, at Newburgh general" she smiled

"your quite the family"

"the work he does is amazing" Anna proclaimed "I could never do what he does"

And here it comes the big sales pitch

"I think you could do anything you set your mind to, and that's what this program needs, what this company needs. Your mind, letting it do everything it could...does that sound like something you'd be interested in?"

She didn't answer right away, she looked at something out of shot and then slowly trailed her eyes along the floor and back to the table surface

"you'd still be allowed to write" he said

She looked back up at him

::

::

Subjects behaviour is slowly becoming less erratic, but night terrors and spontaneous resistance persist.

Hypnotherapy was attempted but unsuccessful in reviving memories as only bringing forth more delusions.

The files were detailed, her attitude was as weird as her 'memories'

"I'm in a room" Anna said dryly as she looked off into space

"what else do you see?" the doctor asked

"I'm yelling at someone" she muttered

"who?" the doctor asked

"I don't know"

"think, try and remember"

"no!" she protested

"why not?"

"they don't want me to remember, that's why they made him do this" she groaned clutching the sides of her head

"made who do what?"

"it hurts!" she screamed

"we need some tranqs in here" the doctor called

"no, no, I don't need any more tranquillisers" she whined as orderlies held her in place and stuck a needle in her arm

::

::

"our research and lab equipment is the latest models" Thompson lectured

"would it be terribly rude of me to say you probably afforded it by skimping on the decorating budget" Anna commented

he chuckled, they were walking down the halls of Primatech's Hartsdale facility.

"you know when I told my uncle about you guys he was a little hesitant" she said

"really?"

"yeah, he's not really that willing to believe that people who know about our powers are here to help" she replied sheepishly

"well some people have learnt to deal with abilities on their own so well that it's hard for them to let people in"

She laughed at this

"am I missing something?" he asked

"if you knew my uncle you'd understand" she smiled before sighing "look" she said "I'm thankful for what you've offered but I couldn't work here"

"and why's that?" Thompson asked

"when I ask a question, I get the answer like that that" she snapped her fingers for effect "and that's only when I'm focusing my ability, if I'm not I'll get these gut feelings and this place gives me a pretty bad one" she admitted

"what kind of feeling?"

"one that tells me this place isn't safe, to many secrets, to many deceptions, to many betrayals" she aimed that last part right at him

"well, I can't say I fully know what you're talking about" Thompson lied, directing Anna back the way they had come in, hoping she would pick up on the signal he was giving the cameras behind her back "but I can respect your decision" he continued

"really?" Anna asked a little confusedly

"of course, I couldn't ask you to work somewhere you didn't feel safe"

"we'll I hope your bosses aren't angry" she replied sheepishly

"oh, they won't be angry" he said

A dark skinned hand suddenly came from behind and placed itself on Anna's forehead, before she could react the Haitians ability took place and she slumped unconscious against him. A few orderly's came round the corner with a gurney, she was strapped to it and wheeled off for testing. Noah appeared beside Thompson and without facing him Noah asked

"standard bag and tag?"

"we'll be testing her first, some of the higher ups believe she could be a valuable asset, they want us to start seeing the limits to her power, see if there's a precog extension"

"that's possible?" Noah asked

"we'll soon find out" Thompson said before walking off.

The security camera footage had caught the whole thing, different angles had caught the Haitian coming up behind her, blocking her ability so she wouldn't know to turn around.

::

::

Peter was in his apartment when the phone rang, he was a little surprised to hear his brothers voice

"hey Pete" Nathan said calmly

"what's wrong?" Peter asked hearing it in his voice

"that kid you brought to my house-"

"Anna" Peter cut him off

"yeah well, do you know where she comes from?" Nathan asked trying to smooth his brother into it

"the psychiatric ward at Mercy heights" Peter replied

"do you know what for?" Nathan continued trying not to give way to his surprise

"selective amnesia and night terrors"

"and you still let her in my house!" Nathan's voice raised

"she didn't tell me until after I brought her back to the hospital, and she's not dangerous, she's very calm"

"really, was she calm when she tried to stab one of her doctors with his pen" Nathan read from the file in front of him

"what?"

"or when she once spent two hours speaking in gibberish"

"you researched her?" Peter asked a little appalled

"what is it Peter does she buy into your delusions? does she share them?"

"Nathan-"

"don't tell me she encourages you"

"look Nathan I don't expect you to understand, but I expected a little better of you than to try and scare me of with files from months ago" Peter lectured

"Pete, that last one was from three weeks ago"

::

::

Anna Coleman was a special with the extra sensory perceptive power of Claircognizance, the ability to know anything with out any physical reason as to how she obtained that knowledge, she could obtain anything from whether or not the person was trust worthy to which wire needs cutting in order to diffuse a bomb. In a company like Primatech that made her an invaluable asset.

Noah Bennet had only ever spoken to her three times and seen her four, he remembered the first time he saw her.

Noah was on his way through the halls of the research wing of the Hartsdale facility looking for Dr Martins, needing him to sign off on a few papers.

He opened the door into one room to see a number of medical orderlies surrounding the shaking figure of Anna Coleman, bound to a gurney by her ankles and wrists, monitors stood near by notifying the others of her brain waves and heart rate

"no, please!" she cried looking desperately at Paulette Hawkins standing above her "please you don't have to do this!"

"I'm sorry" Paulette said in her usual monotone voice, before raising her hands which were glowing a golden aura.

"do you mind?" said one of the orderlies pushing him out of the room, he caught a glimpse of Paulette's hands being placed on the sides of Anna's head and Anna's eyes beginning to gain a glowing hue. Just as Bennet had been pushed out the door he heard her scream.

"problem?" the orderly asked in the hall

He wanted to ask what was going on in there, why they had brought in Paulette, usually they didn't use her augmenting ability outside of fieldwork, but he knew better than to ask questions.

He shook his head and held out the papers "just need Dr Martins to sign this"

"I'll hand it over to him" with that the orderly shuffled back into the room, the sound of rapid beeping could be heard mixed in with the cries of a still screaming young girl.

"it's an augmentation therapy" the orderly said replying to Bennett's expression "it has been theorised that her limits can be expanded through augmentation"

"that's why you've brought in Paulette" Noah summarised

"not like her relatives were dying to see her" the orderly mumbled

::

::

A man who looked to be about a college seniors age was standing in front of Anna's door, Peter hovered on the spot not sure what to do

"uh, this is Anna's room right?"

The man didn't even move, a doctor then came along and put a hand on his shoulders

"Marcus, why don't you let him see Anna, we could use you in the reck room" he said

Reluctantly Marcus began to shuffle away. The doctor turned to face Peter

"I'm sorry, Marcus is a it protective of Anna, she's something of the only friend he has here"

"he seems a little young to be here" Peter said

"he was serving over seas, poor boy came back shell shocked"

"but he likes Anna?"

"spends the most time with her, other than his therapists she's the only one that talks to him"

"huh" was all Peter could say a he pushed the door open. Anna was leaning against the wall starring out the window, but she looked up at Peter the minute both of his feet where across the threshold, for a second she smiled but it disappeared from her face as soon as it had come.

Her eyes fell to the floor and she perched herself on the edge of the bed "it wasn't gibberish" she muttered

"you've really gotta stop doing that" Peter said

"Nathan told you?" she asked

"I think you know the answer to that" he replied

Anna ran her hands over her face and through her hair as she laughed

"sometimes I think I know to much, I mean...you have no idea what it's like in my head"

"I may not know what it's like to not remember but, but how do you even know that-"

"but I do know" she cut him off "I know too much. And some of it's made up, and some of it can't be explained, and there's secrets, and...and none of it is mine! Everything in my head is someone else, belongs to someone else!" she was starting to tear up at this point "Peter, I don't know what exactly is gonna happen but, I need to try, to try and get back the ability to remember the colour of my bedroom walls, or what I got Christmas, or my parents..."

She cupped her hands over her mouth at that point

"I don't know how it's gonna work out. I don't know how it's gonna end but I need to do this...so I have at least one thing in my head that is mine"

Now she was crying and beginning to shake. Peter pulled her close and closed his arms around her keeping her steady as she began to release all her repressed fear and sadness.

"it's okay, it's okay, I'm here" he said in hushed tones

::

::

This time the therapy session was being shot in a bedroom, but the looks of it with a handheld camera, Anna was sitting on the floor leaning her back against the side of the bed, staring intensely at her kneecaps

"you're still having the dreams?" the doctor asked blankly

"they're not really dreams, more like flashes" she replied looking intensely into space

"does any of it seem familiar?"

"no they, they can't be memories, too...strange"

"so they don't have any significance to you?"

Her eyes wandered off screen for a moment

"I think they're trying to tell me something" she finally said

"Dreams are very interpretative things, and it's not uncommon for someone in your situation to want a higher understanding, a significance, everyone wants to be special. Everyone wants to be a Hero"

With that she tensed up, she continued to hold her gaze off in space before sliding it back to the camera at the last second

"not everyone"


End file.
